Police Sieges Los Angeles County

A gunman fleeing a robbery at a children's clothing store in La Verne dashed into a nearby McDonald's restaurant, where he held as many as 19 hostages--including several children--for several hours before sheriff's deputies stormed the facility shortly after midnight today, authorities said. The suspect was in custody by 12:15 a.m.--more than six hours after the incident began. All the hostages were believed freed and unharmed.

A late summer shootout in a Santa Clarita Valley housing tract left a sheriff's deputy dead and endangered dozens of neighbors as authorities exchanged hundreds of rounds with a barricaded gunman. How did a seemingly routine search end so badly? Los Angeles County officials hope the answers are in a report by the Sheriff's Department, which is planning to release the results of a three-month investigation Tuesday. The gunfight began early Aug.

Oswaldo Amezcua, the man who reportedly shot three officers and held 15 hostages in a July Fourth standoff at the Santa Monica Pier, strode into court with a swagger Thursday to face the first in a series of felony charges to be filed against him. In Santa Monica Superior Court, Amezcua, whose gang name is "Wizard," responded loudly to the judge's questions and smiled at his co-defendant, Joseph Conrad Flores, 30, whose early morning arrest Tuesday sparked the holiday shootout.

A man who held off police for more than 22 hours as he perched on the Gerald Desmond Bridge jumped to his death at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. The 30-year-old Huntington Beach man, whose name was not released, fell about 120 feet to the ground. He had begun his standoff with Long Beach police about 10 p.m. Saturday.

A sheriff's marksman killed a suspected bank robber in a stolen taxicab Wednesday after a five-hour standoff on the Pomona Freeway that tied up traffic for miles, authorities said. The man pointed a semiautomatic handgun at deputies after they fired two cans of "cold gas," an irritant, into the taxi, said Deputy Steve Sciacca. "A special weapons long rifle shooter who feared for the life of the deputies fired one round, which fatally wounded the suspect," he said.

Two men who allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint surrendered to sheriff's special weapons teams Saturday after barricading themselves in a West Hollywood apartment for 5 1/2 hours. The two men, both in their 20s, ended the standoff about noon after holing up inside an apartment in the 1200 block of Orange Grove Avenue about 6:30 a.m., said Deputy Diane Hecht of the sheriff's information bureau.

September 26, 1990 | Ashley Dunn and Berkley Hudson and Jesse Katz and Tracy Wilkinson, This article was reported and written by Times staff writers Ashley Dunn, Berkley Hudson, Jesse Katz and Tracy Wilkinson

The man with the tattooed arms stepped to the counter of the only McDonald's in La Verne and ordered a Big Mac. "Just like a regular customer," assistant manager Ramiro Gironas, 21, would recall. "He stood in line and waited to be helped, just like everyone else." But the man was not just like everyone else. According to law enforcement officials, Douglas E. Girard, a 32-year-old ex-convict, and an accomplice, Frank M. Teresi, 38, had just stolen $200 from the Kids Mart store across the street.

As authorities prepared their case against the alleged gunmen who terrorized visitors to the Santa Monica Pier early on Independence Day, they depicted the two suspects as hardened gang members who were wrapping up a recent killing rampage with a day at the seashore.

A convicted burglar who escaped from Orange County Jail held a special weapons team at bay for nearly five hours before surrendering Thursday. Darryl Mason, 21, of San Clemente was taken into custody without incident about 6:25 p.m., nearly five hours after a sheriff's SWAT team surrounded a house he was suspected of hiding in. Mason was convicted of burglary and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

As their three young children watched, a 38-year-old Lancaster man recently released from a jail sentence for spousal battery, fatally shot his estranged wife Friday then barricaded himself in his restaurant for about four hours before surrendering to authorities, Los Angeles sheriff's deputies said.

Every month or so, the women of Brooks Circle gathered for a girls' night out. Usually, there was a birthday to celebrate; sometimes not. Mainly, they met just to get out of the house and gab. Whether there was a specific reason or not, there was always plenty to talk about. This summer, on the Saturday night after Independence Day, eight or nine of the ladies of Brooks Circle met at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse in Valencia. A couple of the women had a very specific reason for meeting.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms learned more than a year ago that a convicted felon had illegally purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition, a disclosure that raises questions about the investigative procedures that resulted in a shootout at the man's home that left a sheriff's deputy dead and terrorized a neighborhood. ATF agents also were told by neighbors of James Allen Beck in the weeks before the Aug.

A suspected purse snatcher who allegedly took a woman hostage and holed up for more than 10 hours in the victim's home surrendered to police Thursday. Authorities said the man, who wasn't identified, was flushed out shortly before 7 a.m. after SWAT team members fired tear gas canisters into the home. The 64-year-old woman was released unharmed shortly after 5:35 a.m., said Police Sgt. Ron Buckholtz.

Preliminary autopsy and ballistics findings confirm that a Santa Clarita Valley gunman who held officers at bay Friday fired the shot that killed a deputy, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said Monday. The angle of the shot, analysis of the bullet that hit Deputy Hagop "Jake" Kuredjian and statements by suspected gunman James Allen Beck all indicate that Beck was responsible for the death, sheriff's officials said, seeking to dismiss speculation that Kuredjian was hit by "friendly fire."

The first bullet tore through their walk-in closet. By then, Phil and Marilyn Lombardi were cowering on their bathroom floor, shielding their 38-hour-old infant girl from the gunfire. And until then, they had little reason to doubt their friend Jim Beck. The tales their next-door neighbor told were wild, but they believed him. He talked about his exploits as a U.S. marshal, about hunting fugitives all over the country, and about a shootout that left his German shepherd wounded.

The violence that claimed the life of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in the Santa Clarita Valley caught authorities off guard, plunging a quiet neighborhood into such chaos that officers fired not only at the suspect but into homes on both sides of his, officials said Saturday.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms learned more than a year ago that a convicted felon had illegally purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition, a disclosure that raises questions about the investigative procedures that resulted in a shootout at the man's home that left a sheriff's deputy dead and terrorized a neighborhood. ATF agents also were told by neighbors of James Allen Beck in the weeks before the Aug.

At the age of 10, Douglas Eric Girard was arrested for stealing a coop full of pigeons from the roof of a fish market. Like the birds he filched, his criminal career never quite took off. "I guess it's true, crime does not pay," he recently told a probation officer, noting that he has "made enough money to get by but not to get rich."

Long Beach homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 48-year-old woman shot by officers who fired beanbags during a standoff outside her home. Holding an 8-inch knife, Glenda Reymer was shot twice after keeping Long Beach police at bay for about 15 minutes in the middle of a residential street late Friday morning, said Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Tabing. The Long Beach woman threatened police and onlookers, and at one point put the knife to her throat, Tabing said.

A Hawthorne police officer seriously wounded a woman who allegedly pointed a handgun at officers during a five-hour impasse at her home Monday, authorities said. The 50-year-old woman, whom police did not immediately identify, was shot in the upper torso shortly before 6 a.m. at her house in the 3700 block of 132nd Street, said Lt. Tom Martin of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. At 12:15 a.m.